If You Could Play One Game for the Rest of Your Life…

A very interesting yet slightly deep (in a nerdy way) question was asked to me by my friend Shaun Lloyd (consider yourself Boo Tube Famous! :D) whilst we were talking about life asked me, “If you could play one game for the rest of your life, what game would it be and why?” This question really stumped me so we put in some establishing rules, you can’t choose a series of games like the Halo games it must just be one, like Halo: Combat Evolved and the Master Chief Collection doesn’t count as it is a collection of games (same goes for Rare Replay). As this is very much a situational and impossible question the rule is that you can start the game over without knowledge of playing the game before, otherwise it would have forced the choice of a multilayer game and that would have been boring!

So some of the choices that went through my head immediately were some of the more classic games I remember in my early gaming days, , Banjo Kazooie, Gran Turismo 2, Spyro, Pokemon, theres so many great classic games that would be fun to play over and over again! When most people talk games they are the ones that come up for a reason, they are fun to play and they carry a decent challenge, they carry great reward in the harder areas and seemed to take a long time to complete (at the time). The other options that came to mind were newer games that included multiplayer, like the first Call of Duty Modern Warfare! Everyone looks back on that game with the greatest appreciation! It had a great singleplayer and the best online experience at the time, it was definitely my top FPS game on my list! I considered the Halo games as well, Halo 3 at the time of released had me hooked the most but I really enjoyed Halo 2 and Combat evolved as well, I felt that lack of online multiplayer on Halo 1 took it down a peg and in the fairness of the question I wouldn’t have knowledge of Halo 1 so 2 and 3 would suffer in my opinion. Games like Destiny can be fun in bursts but the idea of grinding a lot of the time is dull to me, its OK is small doses but it gets boring fast! Other games that came to mind were Counter Strike, but that gets too frustrating at times. Portal 2 is a good one too, especially as its game with steam workshop so the levels are near infinite (sorta).

So which game would I pick… well I would pick Final Fantasy IX and I know other people will have different opinions on choosing Final Fantasy and then which Final Fantasy I should have chosen, BUT! Final Fantasy IX has consistently made me happy through multiple playthroughs. I absolutely love the story, the setting, the characters, the soundtrack, I could go on and on about it, the game gives me such joy with the romance and comedy, it all works so well and I have a great attachment to the characters, I would be happy to play that game over and over and in fairness I wouldn’t even care too much about forgetting about previous playthroughs! I just hope its steam release comes soon as the android version is seeming very appealing right now!

The message of Final Fantasy IX: Humans are small and helpless in an uncaring universe so we strive to give our lives meaning because, without some record of us, we’re akin to never existing in the first place. So, we create all kinds of crap out of fear. When we transcend all of that, we can finally grow and create the meaning we desire. We die, yes, but, without being remembered, we cease to exist. The most nihilistic and existential Final Fantasy. Every character is so beautifully written and covers every aspect of humanity so perfectly, I can’t help but LOVE this game for what it is!

What game would you pick? Would it be one that teaches or maybe one that you are really good at, there are no wrong answers really.